awesomely untranslatable: a comment fic fest
Yeah, I'm doin' it, folks.
CONTEXT:
So I read this article, and I thought it was awesome, and that it would make a good set of prompts for a comment fic fest. A couple of people agreed. I filched an extra thirteen words that I liked from the comments, for a total of 33 prompts.
As a note, this isn't about the words; it's about the concepts, which are universal. In other words, don't think that because one of the words comes from Swahili that you need to write a story about Uhura. The idea behind the word transcends most, if not all, cultures.
RULES:
1. Prompts are not exclusive.
2. Leave stories in the comments, or link to them in your journal if for some reason they are really long.
3. Let us know in the subject line if your story is rated R or NC-17, or it needs a warning (and please warn for things that people usually warn for).
4. RPF/S is fine, I guess, but please warn for it in the subject line.
5. Any pairing/more-ing, gen, het, slash, femslash, multi, whatever. I actually don't even care what fandom you decide to write in, although the banner does suggest STXI.
6. There really isn't an end date. If you want to come back and link a story six months from now, that's fine.
7. Tell other people! I even have a banner. Right-click, copy image location, etc.
1. Toska
Russian - Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
2. Mamihlapinatapei
Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) - “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start”
3. Jayus
Indonesian - “A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh”
4. Iktsuarpok
Inuit - “To go outside to check if anyone is coming.”
5. Litost
Czech - Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, remarked that “As for the meaning of this word, I have looked in vain in other languages for an equivalent, though I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can understand the human soul without it.” The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.
6. Kyoikumama
Japanese - “A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement”
7. Tartle
Scottish - The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name.
8. Ilunga
Tshiluba (Southwest Congo) - A word famous for its untranslatability, most professional translators pinpoint it as the stature of a person “who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense.”
9. Prozvonit
Czech - This word means to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. In Spanish, the phrase for this is “Dar un toque,” or, “To give a touch.”
10. Cafuné
Brazilian Portuguese - “The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.”
11. Schadenfreude
German - Quite famous for its meaning that somehow other languages neglected to recognize, this refers to the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune. I guess “America’s Funniest Moments of Schadenfreude” just didn’t have the same ring to it.
12. Torschlusspanik
German - Translated literally, this word means “gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.”
13. Wabi-Sabi
Japanese - Much has been written on this Japanese concept, but in a sentence, one might be able to understand it as “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.”
14. Dépaysement
French - The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country.
15. Tingo
Pascuense (Easter Island) - Hopefully this isn’t a word you’d need often: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.”
16. Hyggelig
Danish - Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire.
17. L’appel du vide
French - “The call of the void” is this French expression’s literal translation, but more significantly it’s used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places.
18. Ya’aburnee
Arabic - Both morbid and beautiful at once, this incantatory word means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.
19. Duende
Spanish - While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.”
20. Saudade
Portuguese - One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade.
21. Klünen
Frisian verb which means "to walk on the ground with your ice skates on," sometimes needed when there is a hole in the ice.
22. L'esprit d'escalier
French. Literally “the spirit (or wit) of the staircase,” it’s for when you think of just the right thing to say… just a little too late.
23. Pole
Swahili word (pronounced pole-ay) which is usually translated in English as “sorry.” This translation does not begin to encompass all that “pole” means, however. In Tanzania, whenever you see someone working, or simply pass someone walking on the road, you say “pole” and they respond “pole na wewe” or “pole to you too.” It is an acknowledgment that life is hard, along the lines of “I feel your pain, life is hard for me as well.” )
24. Nakakakilig
Tagalog. It involves a tingling sensation of seeing something cute (like a puppy) or someone cute (like a crush). Or knowing that someone is infatuated with you.
25. Ehsaan
Arabic. Giving someone more than he/she deserves out of pure goodness of heart. Altruism doesn’t quite cover it.
26. Davka
From Hebrew. It means something between “just because” and “precisely why”, many times used as an explanation for acts of willfulness.
27. Grillerig
Afrikaans. It’s that feeling you get when you know something creepy has happened and you get goosebumps everywhere. But I can’t describe it very well. You have to come here to South Africa and experience a proper ‘grillerig’ moment.
28. Geuzennaam
A Dutch term for when an originally negative or derogatory name is appropriated and reclaimed as a positive label of empowerment.
29. Maan-abhimaan
In Bangla, a very weird concoction of affection and anger-affectionately angry or angrily affectionate.
30. Ubuntu
Bantu in South Africa - “I am because you are." Also the concept behind the fact that humanity cannot exist in isolation. (It's also an operating system originally designed with accessibility in mind. Use any of these.)
31. Farpotschket
Yiddish; something which has been totally screwed up by clumsy attempts to fix a minor problem.
32. Komorebi
Japanese. Literally means, “The scene produced by interplay of sunlight and trees.”
33. Dietrologia
Italian. The science of finding dark ulterior motives behind otherwise normal actions (especially by government).
Have at it!